In 2021 I started a Minecraft server with my friend Waffles. We had 0 players and nothing. Today more than 400,000 unique players have joined it. This is how that happened, as honestly as I can tell it.

Before the server

I didn't come from Minecraft servers at all. Before this I was in esports, at Mystic Esports, where I started as normal staff and worked my way up to the highest level. That's where I learned team management and how to be professional, and it's also where I met Waffles, who is my best friend now.

Around the same time, in 2020, I started programming. Python and JavaScript first, then Discord bots, then a bit of game dev. I didn't know it yet, but all of that was about to become useful.

2021: zero players

Then in 2021 we started MystiCraft, and that's where everything changed. I got introduced to the whole world of Minecraft servers. And I mean we really started with nothing. 0 players. Just the two of us and a server.

2022: the first money

In 2022 we made our first money. That's a moment I still remember haha.

Learning YouTube because we needed players

After that I started learning video editing and how the YouTube algorithm works. I did it for the server, to make content and bring more activity in. Today my videos sit around 50k+ views, and the most popular one is at 100k+.

It just kept growing

By 2025 we had 200+ players, and it just kept growing. At our peak we had 700 players online.

Along the way I built the core plugin the server runs on and the staff system. I also learned a lot of tools I had never touched before, like Git, Grafana and Linux servers. And a lot of what I do isn't code at all. It's managing the team, the store, events and the community.

In 2024 I started MystiTiers, the tier testing side of the server. In 2025 my friend Ian joined and helped with most of it. Its Discord has over 7.5k members now.

Looking back

The thing I notice when I write it all down is how slow it was. 2021 was zero players. The first money came a year later. 200+ players came in 2025. None of it happened fast.

I started this with my best friend, and I'm still building it.